puzzle

These verbs mean to cause bafflement or confusion. Puzzle suggests difficulty in solving or interpreting something: “The poor creature puzzled me once . . . by a question merely natural and innocent” (Daniel Defoe). Perplex stresses uncertainty or anxiety, as over reaching an understanding or finding a solution: a dilemma that perplexed the committee.Mystify implies defying comprehension by obscuring facts: symbolism that mystifies me.Bewilder emphasizes extreme mental confusion: “The old know what they want; the young are sad and bewildered” (Logan Pearsall Smith). To confound is to confuse and astonish: God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise (I Corinthians 1:27).